Search Engine Guide

There are thousands of internet search engines, each one indexing only a fraction of the billions
of pages that exist on the World Wide Web. Listed below are some of the
most popular engines, arranged into four categories:

Remember
that each engine uses different search strategies. Some automatically search
for plurals or correct your spelling; others don't. If you search for two
or more words, some engines assume that you want pages that contain either
word, and some engines assume that you want pages that contain both words,
or the words as a phrase. Be sure to read the "search tips" or "help" for
each engine for the most accurate and efficient searching. Try various engines,
and try rephrasing your search terms if you're not finding what you need.

Search
Engines: These sites use software that sends out automatic
agents (AKA spiders, crawlers, or bots) to scour the web. Their emphasis
is generally on returning a large number of hits, although some sites do
have methods to try to get the "good stuff" to rise to the top.

Directories: These sites use automated software to find web sites which are then
classified into a directory structure by humans. Searches may retrieve fewer
hits than with a general search engine, but the sites listed may be reviewed
for quality, annotated, or linked to other sites. Some of these websites
also offer personal assistance, either in the form of an expert to whom
you can email a question, or an open forum where anyone may answer a posted
question.

Metacrawlers:These sites are "meta" engines; that is, they don't maintain a
list of sites themselves, but search through other engines. The same search
is performed across a number of sources, and any special search syntax (+,
-, "AND" operators) may be interpreted differently by each engine.

Authority:
Who created the page? Why? What are the author's credentials? Can the author
be contacted? Who is sponsoring the site? Objectivity vs. bias: Is the author being objective or biased? Does
this webpage seem more like an advertisement than useful information? Currency: Is there a date on the page? How up-to-date is the information?
Are there many broken links?